I Love Pink
by AkatsukiStalkers-RebelQueens
Summary: Blood Boxes and sealing, we sent her to another world for her own safety. for the safety of all here- Akatsuki, Konoha, Suna, one and all. we will send you one by one after the cherry. don't screw up, make your peace. the other world is different, make a ruckus and you die. Uzumaki, your next, you too, Uchiha brothers. Author: Neko Zoey M for future
1. Chapter 1

**I Love Pink**

Neko: yes, one more story.

Alex: *glare*

Neko: doing it anyway.

Abby: -_- I quit.

Neko: YOU'RE FIRED!

Rose: …hn.

Zoey: Neko-chan, you're not much of a writer without someone to check your spelling…

Hannah: even if one of your spell checkers is more occupied in putting purvey scenes in your story then spell checking them… *couch*Alex*cough*

Alex: XP

Neko: and Rose-chan, you better be grateful I'm doing your favorite pairing! Because it will NEVER happen again.

Rose: hn. *evil smirk*

Her battle with Sasori had gone wrong. She charged through the woods above the cliff of the cave where Gaara's body had been found. Her side was bleeding heavily, a gash on her slightly large forehead leaking blood into her eyes. Her short, choppy pink hair was pulled up from the fight that had gone wrong, leaving the red head puppeteer to be hunting her through the woods.

She panted heavily, as she stumbled once and fell. Everything seemed to be telling her to stop running away. Her pride says to go down fighting. Herself preservation said live to fight another day. Her sense of feeling screaming in pain. Lady Chiyo had died in front of her a few moments ago. Now she ran for her life after completely losing the battle without the elder's assistance.

She didn't want to die for nothing.

So she pushed herself to her feet, leaving a puddle of blood regrettably, which would aid in the poison maker's search for her, the girl who had destroyed 2 of his best puppets. She tripped, again, into a grassy clearing with a stream running through.

To her complete astonishment, a person she never thought she'd see again stood just ahead of her. He was sitting at the base of a tree, the white over coat, blue pants, and purple rope-belt-bow thing completely new to her, but that face never forgotten. "Sasuke?!"

His eyes snapped open, pitch black that evolved into a rapid-circling Sharringon. But, at the moment, she had more important matters to deal with, such as an angry, yet evil-smirking man, his caramel eyes smoldering as he left the tree line. She whirled around, facing him with a defiant look. If she had to fight, then she would.

He took a step forward, but then it was like he had bumped into a wall as he recoiled. He reached a hand up, and rested it as if it were on a solid surface. The red head grinded his teeth, shouting angry things she couldn't hear, and pounding once or twice on nothing. He glared angrily at Sakura pointing at her, and she could only assume death threats.

"What did you do?"

She jumped, remembering Sasuke, who was standing, and looking between her, and Sasori. She wished she had an answer. But she wouldn't tell him if she did have one. She shot him a glare, and then looked back at Sasori. She blinked, when suddenly she could make out the force field. It was a slight ting of red like air, but solid, and formed a square around the hissing and spiting scorpion, who was ensnared in the trap.

She turned as she saw a figure slide out of the undergrowth quickly, and blinked as a second Akatsuki member entered the field, the blonde man she had seen once before sitting on top of Gaara. He was closely followed by Naruto, and she watched with wide eyes as both of them suddenly crashed to a halt as if they had walked into walls. The red square faded into view, and the pair of blondes shouted silently at each other, pointing and screaming. Another movement caught her eye, and she saw two, three, four… more squares drifting into the field. Gaara's dead body, Kakashi repeatedly chidori-ing the red walls, Temari and Kankuro together and both banging heavy fists on the walls. Team Gui sealed into one, oversized box. And, to her surprise, the pair of Akatsuki that Team Kakashi had crossed paths with as they approached Suna's dessert lands; Itachi and Kisame both sealed into separate boxes.

The boxes began to… sort themselves. The Akatsuki were place to the left half of the field, and she realized Sasuke had been contained in a box as well, and sat beside the calm, blank Uchiha brother whilst Sasuke lashed out at the side of his box, as if to reach Itachi who ignored him. Naruto and Kakashi were put beside Sasuke in the start of a second line, like Sasuke was the corner between Akatsuki and team 7. Following that line were Team Gui, there box broke into separate containers for each of them, and then on the far side opposite from the Akatsuki line was another for the three Sunagakure ninjas, Temari and Kankuro's boxes separating.

She suddenly realized that everyone was staring at her. Sure, she expected Sasori and Sasuke to be glaring at her, and her allies to be looking at her… but everyone was staring, even Itachi and Kisame, and she almost couldn't comprehend why.

Then, she realized it looked like she was doing this.

She stood in the center, and she wasn't in a box. She could make out Naruto mouthing "what are you doing?!" and could see Kakashi's wide eyed, shocked look. She just made an incredulous look, like she would be able to do this!

"Hn." Half expecting to see one of the Uchiha brothers had escaped the cubes, she whipped around, ignoring the wounds she had as they screamed, to see a girl.

Taller than her by an inch, the teen was dressed in a pure-black skin tight velvet leotard, with an open cloak of dark blood red handing on her shoulders. A golden belt bore 4 blades, one with fresh blood on it. Her hair was short, mid shoulder blades, and a red that looked almost black, with blank mint eyes. The tips of her hair, pulled back out of her face by a ponytail hair bright red, orange and yellow tips, the only source of color in her outfit. She looked at Sakura blankly, and Sakura realized that the red-black girl's arm was dripping with a thin, red liquid. And that's when it hit her. The sudden, over powering small of salt and iron, she glanced to the people in boxes, and realized they could smell it much worse by the hands over their faces. Those boxes were solid blood from this girl.

She gasped when she noted there was another person standing on top of Naruto's box. Her hair was about as long as her own yet bright red like Sasori, and her eyes were so sharply blue they over powered most of her appearance, which was dressed in fishnet from neck down, incasing her arms to her palms and her feet as well, with a black tube top and mini skirt with a red sash around her waist.

The 'Hn.' Girl as Sakura dubbed her, reached out her blood-dripping hand to Sakura. "hn." She repeated again. As if the words had actually been spoken instead of grunted, Sakura hesitantly lifted her hand, not sure why she was doing anything this girl said.

She grabbed Sakura's hand in two fingers, pulling her closer, before holding her wrist above it and allowing few precious life-line red drops to fall on her skin. With a nimble, quick finger, Sakura's arm was traced with long, beautiful, yet ominous seals up her arm to her shoulder. The teen Turned the pinkette around, and with a Kunai, the back of her shirt was sliced through. The neck of her shirt was left alone, so the front of her shirt was still held up, put her back was met with cold air, then the icy tracing of the girl once again.

She starred ahead of her, and the boxes directly in front of her form were Naruto and Kakashi. Both of her teammates looked completely horrified, slamming their shoulders against the side of the boxes in hopes to get out.

The fire-tipped-hair of the girl's ponytail had blood in it when the figure circled around to her front, and with the Kunai the green-eyes girl cut a line from the shirt's end to just below the neck line that kept it hanging on her body. The slice in the cloth revealed the entire middle of her torso, and upon its cutting, her teacher and teammate only grew wilder in attempts to break from the bloody boxes.

The woman continued in the painting of her torso with the blood from her arm, and Sakura watched the formation of seal after seal across he flat stomach, wondering why she was allowing the person she didn't know to do this.

When the other kunoichi stepped off the box Naruto was slamming into as the first began painting Sakura's clean arm, the fishnet girl held out an odd clear container, unscrewing the lid, and held out a short dagger.

"Your hand." The black-themed girl spoke calmly. Sakura lifted the already painted arm. Taking her hand in her own, the woman took the blade, and made a long, painful gash across the palm. Then, the poured the bright red oozing liquid into the container, before padding blankly toward Naruto's containment area. She walked straight through the wall, which took up a suit-like force field around her. It must be hard, because Naruto rasengan-ed her, and nothing happened. She held out the container of Sakura's blood to him, and she saw her lips move but heard no sound. Then, the red haired girl dipped three fingers into the liquid, and ripped off Naruto's shirt with her clean hand, the reddish wall seeming to holes the container for her while Naruto stumbled back against the wall behind him as if he could get away.

She made three lines around his heart, like unconnected triangle sides. Then she walked out of the cube again, and approached Sasuke.

Sakura momentarily stopped paying attention, because the girl painting her had suddenly cut away her beige over-skirt, leaving her with her durable black cloth shorts. Then she cut those even shorter, to the point they weren't quite shorts anymore. "Who… are you…?" Sakura asked, looking up to Naruto trying his hardest to get out of the cube, and then to see Sasuke had lost his shirt as well, and was furiously trying to remove the mark from his chest, but it wasn't coming off.

"Rose." She answered blankly. "Rose, The Blood Queen." She straitened up after painting Sakura's upper legs with more unique designs. Then she began decorating Sakura's neck.

Her eyes followed the line of people. The other girl, whatever her name was, had worked fast. Kakashi, Gui, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Neji, Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori had all been stripped of their shirts with the three-lined deign on their chest, over their heart. She looked up just in time to see the odd girl managed to strip Deidara of his shirt despite the fight her was putting up, and get the design on his chest. She also noticed that Tenten, the only girl already visited, has also lost her shirt, but the blood cube had wrapped around her chest to keep it out of visibility. This was about the time Sakura realized there were MORE cubes than before.

Out of nowhere, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino were in red cubes stacked on top of the sand siblings, and as the other girl started toward them steps appeared out of the red cube blood. 3 more cubes approached through the trees, and Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, closely followed by Kurinai and Asuma. Then, to her surprise, 4 cubes thumped into place along the Akatsuki line, dressed in the cloaks of black and red. An angry yelling silver haired man and another guy in a mask, a man half black and half white, and one with a swirling orange mask.

She became aware of the stares of all the people on her. More and more people entered. She saw Tsunade on one second, then Kabuto the next. Rose had called the other girl Savannah at one point, and Savannah was so quick that soon every person in the clearing, a lot of the shinobi she had met in her life, was the same- shirtless with the 3 line sign.

Then, Rose pulled her forward toward the very middle of the 3 walls of cubes like bricks. 4 blocks moved from their place to be just in front of her. Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai. (Yes, I know Sai had never met with the series until later in the anime, but shut up.)

Forced to her knees, she sat there in the center of all those people, some she knew and some she didn't, on her knees. She looked into the faces of her teammates. Kakashi looked thoroughly angry, as he tried one more chidori on the wall. Naruto stared at her with worried, fearful blue eyes. Sasuke, after seeing him for the first time after he abandoned her on a cold bench, glared at her in annoyance. Sai looked completely stunned. Having been one of the last to be caught, he was still trying to grasp what was happening.

Rose, pushed Sakura's head down to face the floor gently, and she felt a few more warm drops of blood on her back. She could see in the reflection of the bottom of the red cubes as Rose made hand seals, and then placed a glowing white hand on her back.

And before she could black out, she heard all four of the people in front of her shouting her name. Then she was gone, sea sick in the shaking and spinning black unconscious.


	2. Announcement! (not part of story)

**announcement to all readers from Neko-sama**

Syrian Arab Revar  
Mauritius  
Bulgaria  
Kuwait  
Bosnia and Herzegovina

you see those places i listed? those are all places i have NEVER EVEN HEARD OF.

yet somehow, i have at least 2 readers following me from those places.

my precious babies i love you all so very much. after 2 months of inactivity you still comment within the first 10 minutes of a story TWELVE TIMES.

there are some people i would like to personally promote.

you people have praised the crummy song lyrics i made up in some of them, even one of my precious extra cup-cake-y followers sang it and put it on youtube,

_Reira Honjo._

you people give me and the Rebel Queens the comments of a lifetime, hilarious and praising and detailed and perfect.

_MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan_ for your hilarity and constant reviews.

_Babybroant_ for being a dedicated reader.

_Guest: Connie Davis_ for being so attached to my stories.

_Akatsukilover15_ for being a complete cookie for taking on my poor orphaned story 'Yours Truely'.

_KarrineWinchester_ for your frequent reviews, i can count on your appearance.

_asredwer_ fore your honesty and help in spotting my mishaps

_moonloonstar _for your detailed reviewing in 'speechless' and other, i love to read those longer reviews so much!

i love you all, as well as all my others who take the time to AT LEAST type 'write soon' or 'love it'. it makes my day when every two weeks i get to come and see your beautiful words and i read them ALL. i even respond once in a while, so if you ask a question just stick it in a review and it SHALL be answered!

and remember how much i love you ALL!


	3. Chapter 3

**I Love Pink**

Neko: it's funny, I actually hate pink. Glad I don't have Sakura's hair.

She opened her emerald eyes slowly, blinded by sunlight. The ground below her was soft, and as she tried to get up, it swished around her. Her eyes adjusted partly, and she dug her fingers into the sand. Yes, that was sand. She stared up at a grey sky. What she had thought was a sunny sky was just the sun peaking through the rain clouds.

She looked around. A beach. Ocean, sand, a tree line up a hill. It was cold. She was wet, but she wasn't salt, so she hadn't been in the water but in the rain.

She looked at herself. A blood red, design-less dress. It reached her mid thigh, and she had red-painted nails. Her hands were scared. Her hair was short and… pink. "Pink?" she tugged some bangs in front of her face. "Pink… I hate pink…" she muttered.

She meekly tried to get to her feet, the red dress was two big and she had to adjust the straps when it practically fell off her. It was also how she noticed she was neither wearing bra nor panties. But that didn't concern her so much.

As she stood, she made out a figure walking on the beach, and it must have noticed her too, because it started down the beach toward her.

A girl, with soft silky, short cut black hair, and deep purple eyes. She didn't know this person. Or… did she? She didn't know… she didn't know anything.

"Hey, what are you doing here?! This is a private beach! I'll call the cops!"

[Because I'm lazy, TIME SKIP!] 1 year later.

Her younger sister didn't have a birthday. Not one they knew of. So instead, tomorrow morning they would celebrate her birthday. It was the first one year anniversary of when she was found on the beach.

Hikari, the girl with beautiful purple eyes and boyishly short black hair, pulled out the pretty red dress she had found Sakura in. march 20th, Sakura's artificial birthday.

Hikari thought about Sakura as she was now, and as she was then. The red loose dress too big for her, the messy short pink hair untamed and unevenly cut. Her long and perfect nails that were red- and painted symbols that she learned to be kanji for love and hate on both her thumbs. The odd red headband with the weird metal sign on it. The unknown Tattoos, one on the small of her back Kanji for 'Forget', one on her chest over her heart that was kanji for 'transport', and the long words for kanji 'Sakura Haruno' on her back between her shoulder blades.

Hikari had figured the one on her back was her name, and called her by it. Sakura had said it sounded really familiar, so they kept using it.

Yes, _they_. It wasn't just Hikari and Sakura, Hikari's family of three cousin and her two twin siblings. Well, actually her brother and sister moved away a few weeks after Sakura showed up with two of her cousins in tow, but her Cousin Yuichi lived with the pair still. She remembered that as kids, her aunt, Yuichi's mother, always called them the diverse duo. Apparently she was a tomboy, and she knew for a fact that Yuichi was a very shy and reserved boy while she basically said what she wanted.

Hikari sighed, looking at the delicate dress. When Sakura came, at first she was only staying one night… somehow Sakura had become like a sister. Like how Hikari's mom was never actually sisters with Yuichi's mom. It seemed this family always adopted odd people into the already screwed up family.

Hikari's only known blood relatives aside from her mother, was her cousins Kero, Kamiko, Karasu, Katsumi, Kei, and Yorutsume. The K-sisters she hadn't seen for years along with their brother Kyle, who was one of the cousins living with her when Sakura first showed up, and Yorutsume -or Claw as Hikari had nicknamed her- did live with them; or at least she had, but she had left with Kyle. Kyle and Claw were best friends, and both had attached quickly to Sakura. They had left a little bit ago in hopes of finding Sakura's relatives in Japan.

Anyway Claw, Hikari, and Yuichi had all basically adopted Sakura, and since there was no naturally pink haired, green eyed missing people with the name Sakura Haruno, Sakura was an unregister person, so the only ID she had to a past was untraceable, and since it seemed no one was missing her, Hikari had her sister registered into the family.

That was 2 months ago, and now it was approaching Sakura's first birthday. Hikari padded easily toward the pinkette's room, to leave the dress on her med, and noticed Sakura walking out of the closet.

The pink haired girl smiled brightly at her sister. A black bikini top tied in the front, and a skirt-like black bikini bottom, and a bright apple green towel over her shoulder. "To the beach, Hikari!" she announced excitedly.

The black haired teen smirked, "sorry, Sakura-chan, but I can't go, plenty to do since tomorrow is so special. Yuichi is waiting down stairs, though, so have fun."

Sakura hurried out of the room, heading down the stairs quickly, and turned the corner, to see her brother sitting at the breakfast nook patiently, in a pair of swim trunks that were bright yellow, just like his eyes, and a white T-shirt. Turning his head, which adorn his choppy light green hair, he smiled at Sakura, sliding off the perch of the high-standing stool. "Ready to go to the beach, Sak?"

"You bet, Yuichi!" the pinkette exclaimed. "But I'm still mad at you for ditching me after my birthday." Sakura added after a moment of thought.

Yuichi frowned at her. "You know we have a very important business trip, we couldn't cancel if the world was ending."

Sakura sighed, and then shook her head, bouncing to the door impatiently. "Come on, let's _go_." She whined, earning a chuckled before he opened the door and Sakura bolted out like a trapped dog.

Yuichi padded along the beach on the salty, watery shore, while Sakura swished up and about the beach and kicked at the water. Ever since she had shown up here, the beach was one of Sakura's favorite places. He wished he had a place to love as much as she did the sand she joyously skipped across.

He paused as she froze on the spot, staring off into the shallows. Jogging to catch up to her, Yuichi made out multiple dark objects in the low water just as she scrambled directly to them. Figuring them as seaweed, he was confused at the speedy scrambling of Sakura's feet as she tried not to trip in her mad scramble down the beach dune.

"Yuichi…!" Sakura exclaimed, shock and worry both heavy in her voice as she reached the first figure, limp in the water, partly above it thanks to a rock in the water. A shirtless form of a man, with long black hair that was spread in the salty water, and his face only just barely above the water eating to drown him in its salty claws. "Yuichi, this one's alive!"

The green haired teen came splashing through the water, tripping once and splashing onto his knees in his haste, before Yuichi was beside her. "… what?!" he choked, his shock at the sight widening his eyes to saucers. Was there a shipwreck nearby? Was this guy going to die?!

Sakura shoved his shoulder. "Wake _UP_, Yuichi-kun, help me get them all to the beach!" the pinkette was easily pulling the raven haired man through the shallows, laying him to rest with feet just in the water.

Yuichi didn't snap awake until Sakura was already at him again, gave him a push, and he shook his head before hurrying to the next form. A blonde boy, younger than the other figure, teenaged years was his guess, and odd whisker marks on his cheeks. A… carnival ship wreck maybe?

Dragging the blonde to the beach, Sakura managed to pull another, shorter haired raven male, about the blonde's age, from the water, as well as some grey/white haired man who looked a few years older than the taller raven haired person.

This was not strange to him; he had grown used to his adoptive sister's inhuman strength.

The pair laid each on the ground as gently as possible next to the first, staring down in shock as the waved lapped at the unconscious group's feet.

Yuichi looked to Sakura in surprise when the pinkette went more directly to the odd blonde, holding his face in both hands, examining it with wide eyes. "I-I think I know… I think I know him…"

Without much more time to even think, let alone react to his sister, all 4 figures snapped open their eyes in sync. The younger one with black hair and the oldest one both sat up quickly, panting heavily. The other one with ebony hair sat up slowly, while the blonde one stared up at her, registering her slowly with shock and joy.

"SAKURA!" with an unexpected shout, the pinkette lurched backward, blinking in surprise as she landed on her butt into the shallow water with splash. The blonde was instantly on his hands and knees, directly in front of her, "is it really you, Sakura-chan?!"

She backed up a little, "do… do you know me?!" she gasped. "You know me? And I know YOU?!"

The pinkette bounced to her feet, hurrying to Yuichi's side. "Yui-kun, he knows me! He knows who I am!"

"Sakura?" the oldest call, earning her attention. "Do you know where we are?"

The pinkette padded over, "yes, sir, you're on the Private Island of Rivalar!" she explained quickly, "my family owns the whole island."

The shorter raven haired boy looked around. "The Harunos own no islands. What lies are you expecting us to believe here, Kunoichi?!"

"Ku… noichi?" the pinkette question, confused. She received an odd look in return.

"Sakura-chan?" the blonde had furrowed his brow, "what happened to you."

The pinkette scratched her head, her green eyes staring at the lapping water. "I-I… I don't…"

Yuichi shushed her gently with a hand on her head. Then the yellow-eyed boy turned to them, "Sakura has no recollection of anything after she showed up here." He said simply, "she is my sister, and I will assist helping her learn her past. Come with us back to our home; you have a story to tell."

The blonde and eldest nodded quickly, the other teenager taking a moment before agreeing with a grunt, and the last silently followed them as they started the trek over the beach. Yuichi couldn't shake a gut feeling that the quite one kept staring at his back…

…

When they finally reached the gigantic house, Itachi found himself staring directly at whoever was assisting the pink girl that his brother and the Konaha shinobi had recognized. Bright green hair. Glowing yellow eyes. The only thing that separated this teenager from his organization's spy, Zetsu, was that he was not two-colored- in fact, he had no color in his skin at all, as white as half of Zetsu. Even their faces were similar n build- same shape, same check bones, and same eye shape.

This did not go unnoticed to the silent man at all, who couldn't stop staring.

He remembered for a minute the odd, black haired girl they had happened across soon after finishing the Kazakage's sealing. She had managed to incapacitate them both.

As they neared a house just over another sand dune, the group was forced to a halt when the pinkette stopped, coughing violently, clutching at her chest violently as she tumbled to her side.

The shinobi as well as Yuichi clustered around her, himself as well in mild curiosity.

Sakura couched violently, trying to wretch though unable, one hand clutching her chest and the other at her throat. The Kyuubi boy and green haired teen were on all fours at her sides, horrified, while the copy nin, Kakashi, tried to still her on the sand.

"Cant…. Breath…" she coughed in agony, "too much… salt…"

Itachi stared at the form, and after a moment another person, the blonde Kyuubi child, started couching violently, doubling over on his knees and clutching his throat and at the red triangular mark on his chest just like her.

The mark.

"Hatake." The eldest Uchiha called blankly, not removing his eyes from the pinkette. The Jonin glanced over; glaring, but he ignored the untrusting look. "You have to pin her down."

Without taking a second to check to see if he did so, Itachi looked at Yuichi. "Remove the shirt."

Along the walk, the green haired boy had given her a blue T-shirt, commenting on sun burn, and hesitantly the honey-eyed teenager lifted the shirt over the pinkette's swimsuit, bunching it at her neck as Kakashi forcefully kept the pinkette from thrashing in her sputtering.

Glowing on her skin was a red, disgruntled word in kanji letters inside a triangular symbol, blurring and blinking franticly. Sasuke toppled over like the first 2, couching and clutching, as Itachi read the single syllable, "Sai" on her chest.

Naruto rolled over again in his sputtering, and the triangle on his chest glowed, the word was absent.

Kakashi dropped his grip on her shoulders, "Sai?!" the Jonin instructor started staring around wildly. "Damn it, I thought he was with us!"

"Hatake, Yuichi-san. Remain here." The eldest Uchiha stated in a low voice, with narrowed eyes as the silver haired teacher's marking started to flicker with reddish-pink glow like the other. It would take hold soon, and then spread to him as well. He had to find a person named Sai.

In a flash, Itachi was gone.

…

She floundered physically in a feeling of drifting, sucking, pulling, and mostly _drowning_, panic the only relevance in her head aside from the murky green-blue, faltering sunbeams as if she were under water. With each attempt at a breath, Sakura felt nothing more than the taste of salt, more suffocation, intense pressure, and saw murky bubbles in a foggy haze drift toward the disfigured sunbeams.

She sunk in the opposite direction of the bubbles, until she felt her back connect with hard sand, gently as if gravity was distorted. She only vaguely registered this as under water. More so, the fact that she couldn't breathe. So much salt, not enough air.

Then there was a loud boom. Through steadily blackening gaze, the canon ball sound was accompanied by a barrage of bubbles. They steadily drove upward, but gradually a figure slid through the water, approaching her. She felt something latching around her sides like arms, being met with the face of the figure that had not spoken since being pulled from the water, and just as Sakura felt the last ounce of oxygen was being completely used up, they broke surface.

Hungrily, greedily she swallowed mouthful after mouthful of salt-less air, forcing it into her lungs.

"Sakura? Are you ok now?" her vision was broken into blackness. Then it patterned back into view, like steady raindrops seeping through paper. Real sunshine oozed from just behind her brother's green-draped head, his neon yellow eyes filled with their usual glow as well as immense fear.

"Where…" she coughed, her throat dry with rubbed saltiness. "Where… where is the… red eyed… one?" Sakura wheezed, with no name for the man, yet remembering his blazing, swirling red eyes as she- or her mind?- was pulled from the water.

Yuichi looked confusedly at her, about to say there was no one in the group with red eyes, interrupted by a voice unfamiliar to Sakura's ears, "here."

The pinkette, still breathing shakily and thickly, tossed herself down onto the sand, looking at the up-side-down figure.

He carried a black haired unconscious boy about her age on his shoulder, who breathed in rhythm to her with each breath, each shaky coursing breathe. And no matter how hard she tried, Sakura found she could not un-match her breathing to the soaked boy's.

His eyes were no longer red, but it was him. Her rapidly panting breaths dried her throat, but she forced a scratchy, "you're a good swimmer." Before she passed out then and there.


	4. Chapter 4

**I Love Pink**

Two forestry-colored eyes broke open, and she was met with the familiar image of the nursery in her home.

It was more like a _nurse's ward_, but since whenever the families' children came for visits, they spent more time here getting patched up than anything, so it was more like a nursery.

This room was Sakura's love. Ever since coming to the family, she had felt an unnatural draw toward this sanitary part of the house and all its medical implements. So even the ceiling was achingly familiar.

Or, more 'achingly' so, was her throat and her head, and her chest. Mostly her chest- which felt like someone had mistaken it for a drum during a marching bad- and her throat, which was dry and scratchy like sand paper.

She groaned, trying to prop herself up on the wall, and found her eyes gazing over to three sleeping forms in the same room.

First off, beside her in the bed was a black haired boy. His skin was so white, that it made her think of paper, and his hair was like black ink. His parted lips allowed thick, rasping, harsh breaths, and his lace was just slightly deformed with pain. He was shirtless, the blanket over them both resting just over his abdomen, with an odd design on his red chest like the others of the group. However, his flickered with a faint light.

The blonde appeared to have fallen asleep at the bedside in the chair, leaned against the wall, and was the only source of noise to break the quite with his soft, light snores. She was glad for the lolled sound, it seemed familiar and comforting, and rather than stretching, empty silence it brought a hum-like tune.

Lastly, the exhausted form of her brother Yuichi splayed on the counter, as if he had been sitting there when he had fallen asleep. His mussy green hair looked more messy than normal, and the faintest trickle of drool had left a trail on his colorless white check.

Speaking of colorless skin…

Not at all concerned about the fact they were in the same bed- because again, this was the only bed in the hospital-like room- she leaned in closer just the littlest bit toward the white-and-black boy, and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.

He twitched, as if attempting jolt upward in his sleep by reflex, but ended up sputtering, causing his brow to nit, but he sunk back into the bed, tense. The pinkette bit her lip, worried, trailing her fingers down the side of her face to plush the black strands from his face, rough with salt and sticky with sweat.

"You don't look to good…" she murmured in a scratchy voice, so quite it was almost soft despite the dry throat.

"Neither are you, Sakura…" his rasp was breathless, and his eyes opened the lightest, to reveal ink-black eyes.

The girl responded with a smile. "Well, at least you're awake." She would have giggled, but instead it curdled into a couch. A fake-seeming smile on his face straitened into a blank look, and he sat up gingerly.

She brushed it off after a second, turning back to Sai. "So, you know me too?" she asked curiously.

He nodded, partly confused, but of course it did not register on his face. "You are Sakura Haruno…" he repeated.

She shrugged, "I already know that much." Was her light reply. She tipped her head partly, "So who are you?"

The shock in Sigh's head went no further then to appear as mild curiosity on his face. "My name is Sai, Sakura, I'm on you squad."

She thought for a moment he sounded indignant or something, which didn't surprise her. I mean, if he was important to whoever she was, it's not polite to forget him. But she was confused. "Squad…?"

Sai honestly didn't know what to say. How could a kunoichi just forget her entire life of a ninja? "Yes… Team Kakashi, with your sensei, Naruto, and I."

"You mean I knew Sensei before I came to this island?" she asked in surprise.

For a second, he thought Sakura was remembering, but then came to the conclusion that she wouldn't have met Kakashi again until he and the rest of them had been sent here after her. She couldn't have had a new Sensei in the 30 minutes between their following her, though… "No, I don't think so. I mean Kakashi."

"The silver man…?" she asked, with a hint of disbelief in her voice. "But he is the boy's teacher, I thought?" she motioned to Naruto.

For a second, Sai was just hollow minded that Sakura Haruno did not know Naruto Uzumachi's name. Ever since his joining the squad, the pair was like siblings, even at their worst. He nodded numbly, "yes… Naruto was your teammate; you were both Kakashi's students."

She made an 'o' face, "is that why he calls me Sakura-chan?" her voice suddenly rose an octave and she glanced nervously to the blonde. "Were-were we a thing?"

It took him a moment to catch the insinuation- because again, he is Sai- and raised a brow. "I do not think you were. Just teammates, as far as I'm certain."

The pinkette turned to him, so, you were my teammate, too?" Sakura asked.

"I'm rather new to your squad." He responded blankly. "I'm only temporary."

The pinkette sighed, "That sucks… you seem like a cool person, Sai-san- other than almost drowning, of course."

"Swimming was never a part of my training." He stated defensively, though emotionlessly.

She just smiled, and inched toward the end of the bed. Sliding off, Sakura came to realize she was still salty and in her swim suit. She touched a flickering triangle on her upper chest, reading "Sai" out loud with a blink.

"Hai?" he responded, blinking as he prepared to step of the bed himself. Simultaneously, her chest's symbol and his own flashed brightly, and pain seized her stomach, as if she was sloshing around gallons of salty water and she was hit with waves off nausea as strong as the waved from when she had felt like she was drowning.

"Lay back down…" she coughed feebly, leaning heavily on the bed, clutching at a long stinging pain at her chest.

She could tell just by looking at his eyes that he was feeling this too, but ignoring it, and upon glancing at her, he looked surprised along with the pain in his eyes, though he silently listen and settled down again.

The flashing symbol fluttered to a dull flickering glow again, and she groaned in relief.

"You're still sick… from drowning." She panted after a second.

She padded shakily toward the sink as her throat burned, glancing with a smile at Yuichi, filling a cup with water an stepping back to Sai's bed, handing him the drink as she restrained herself from swallowing it down herself.

She didn't know how. But she knew it wasn't _her_ throat that burned.

She was proven correct as when Sai took a small sip, the burning soothed slightly, but he drank no more, as if trying to not appear at all affected.

Sakura pushed his hand that held the clear plastic cup back up to his face. "_Drink_, Sai-san. You won't be judged for soothing your pain."

He let out a silent breath she only knew he had released because she could feel it on her fingers before she let go, and he swallowed the liquid whole. So much for keeping his ANBU duration.

Already feeling the pain in the throat sooth partly, and her stomach settle from its ruthless churning of salt, she smiled again. "good." She praised, noting curiously that the red mark on his chest was flickering less and less.

She watched as it stopped glowing all together and looked like nothing but red paint marks. She realized that she could feel the salty throat anymore, only the memory of it, and she swallowed without pain. As odd as it was, she was a little relived it was gone.

Sakura turned when Yuichi shifted, yawning softly, and wiping at his check as he rubbed his eye, he looked around. The pinkette grinned at her brother; he was just like a little kid, even though he was 21 years old.

Yuichi noticed her standing, and he grinned brightly, bouncing off the counter to trap her in a hug. At the sudden commotion, Naruto jumped awake with all the stealth of a ninja- aka, falling out of the chair and whining when he hit his head on the floor.

While the blonde took a second to rub his head, he opened his eyes, which grew wide and he scrambled upward. "Sakura-chan, your okay!" he grabbed her in a hug as well.

Even though she didn't know this blonde boy with odd whisker marks, it felt perfectly normal, so she just chuckled, giving him a quick hug back.

"Sai-san is also awake." She added, looking over to see the watching boy, colorlessly smiling faintly. She had this distinct feeling he hadn't been entirely truthful about being temporary, judging by the way Naruto exclaimed a 'thank god!' and how Sai looked _somewhat_ happy at the blonde's reunion with her.

While Naruto fussed over Sai for 'scaring them like that', Yuichi watching curiously, the pinkette slipped out the open nursery door.

Sakura padded up to her bedroom, intent on a shower, and then blinked in surprise at a very male person looking through her stuff. Upon her entrance, the raven haired boy looked up with uninterested black eyes, turning back to his invasion on her privacy.

Her face flushing red, she glared, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

The boy about her age looked taken aback at her tone, before glaring back at her. "Be quiet, kunoichi."

Still not sure what that term meant, Sakura couldn't help but take it as an insult. "I SAID GET OUT, YOU JERK!"

He ignored her, and angrily she grabbed the closest object- a large Tiger's Eye stone from her collection, and pelted at him.

He dodged easily, raising uninterested black eyes to her once more. "And I said to shut up."

Sakura twitched violently, biting her lip to the point it began to bleed. Interestingly, a red streak dripped down the other person's lip and chin. He raised finger, blinking in curiosity at the blood.

Her inquisitiveness smothered her anger, and she padded over, trying to look at his face, much to his annoyance.

"That's cool…" she murmured mindlessly, touching her own lip, and feeling the iron-scented liquid. Still not very interested at being angry anymore, she just continued to poke at her lip after asking, "So, what's your name then?"

He looked over at her from where he was examining a picture of her and a bunch of people he didn't recognize, a little annoyed that the stupid fangirl had forgotten him. "Sasuke, kunoichi."

"If that's your last name, then why do you keep calling me it?" she asked, looking over with a raised brow.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance, "my last name is Uchiha." _She is so stupid… just like I remember._

"hm." She turned away, headed for her dresser. "Well, Sasuke-san, get out of my room." she ordered casually, and pretended not to feel his glare on her back.

"Leave the girl alone little brother." The warning came from the hallway as the taller black haired man passed by, not bothering to stop.

With a sudden gasp, Sakura dropped the shirt she was holding, instead hurrying out the door to see the man walking away down the hall, she hurried after him, "hey, wait!"

The man paused, and she hurriedly caught up to him, hearing Sasuke growl in the background. "You're the one with red eyes, right? You save Sai-san?"

He turned his head, looking at her blankly, "hn."

She assumed that was a yes. Sakura dipped her head, her long pink hair swishing down her shoulders, "in this family there is a custom; when a life is saved on this island, the savior is served a dinner by the youngest person in the home over 12. That is me, will you allow me to make you a dinner tonight?"

He blinked, but did not answer her.

_That's a yes in my book. And a custom is a custom! To the kitchen!_

_**After you shower, stupid!**_

_Oh, yeah! To the SHOWER then!_


End file.
